KARACHI: Investors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a jittery session on Friday, with the indices swinging both ways in search of a clear direction before succumbing to selling pressure.
Equity markets around the world also showed a negative trend, whereas crude oil prices went southwards from the previous close; WTI crude price declining 0.84pc to $39.97 while Brent crude price dropping 0.45pc to $41.75.
“The last day of the rollover week replicated what was witnessed for the good part of the outgoing week, i.e. range bound performance and selling pressure. Exploration & production, cement and banking stocks remained the main contributors to the index’s downslide.”
MARKET SUMMARY
After a slow start to proceedings, the benchmark KSE-100 Index touched intraday high at 42,100.73 (+294.36 points) in the second half of the session. However, it failed to sustain its upward trajectory, marking its intraday low at 41,601.94 (-204.43 points). The index finally ended lower by 105.14 points at 41,701.23.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index declined 373.21 points to close at 66,558.61, whereas the KSE All Share Index gained 38.77 points, settling at 29,636.11.
The overall market volumes remained the same at 434.03 million shares. Average traded value increased by 2pc, from $91.1 million to $93.0 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL +3.80pc), Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY -0.44pc) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO +9.99pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 57.51 million, 47.50 million and 28.43 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the index to the red included cement (-85.38 points), technology and communication (-21.57 points) and insurance (-16.22 points). Among the companies, Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK -37.87 points), United Bank Ltd (UBL -21.67 points) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -21.44 points) dented he index the most.
The cement sector lost 1.80pc from its cumulative market capitalization following media reports that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has carried out search and inspection of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) Lahore offices to check the “increase in cement prices by manufacturers”.
Meanwhile, Murree Brewery Company Ltd (MUREB -7.50pc) declared its financial performance for FY20. The company’s sales fell by 11.11pc YoY; admin cost surged by 28pc YoY; while other expenses increased by 134pc. Its earnings per share went down from Rs44.21 in FY19 to Rs24.64 in FY20.
